Caldo

Italian word of the day

Pronunciation
English translation	Hot, warm
Origin	From the Latin word caldus, “hot”

Don’t confuse caldo with “cold”, which is freddo in Italian! Caldo can also be used as a noun.

Different forms of caldo

Like all other adjectives in Italian, caldo needs to match the gender (masculine or feminine) and the number (singular or plural) of the noun.

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	Caldo	Caldi
Feminine	Calda	Calde

Examples

C’è molto caldo in questa stanza. Dovresti aprire la finestra.	It’s very hot in this room. You should open the window.
I piatti sono caldi.	The plates are hot.
Mi faccio sempre la doccia con l’acqua calda.	I always shower with hot water.
Questa zuppa è troppo calda. Scotta!	This soup is too hot. It burns!
Ho caldo. Posso aprire la finestra?	I’m hot. Can I open the window?

Related words

Caldo is an adjective, and calore, “heat”, is derived from it. It is a masculine noun and it is not used in the plural.

Il termosifone emana molto calore.

The radiator gives off a lot of heat.

You can also translate hot in Italian as bollente (boiling hot, piping hot) and rovente (fiery hot, red-hot).

La canna fumaria della stufa è rovente!	The stove chimney is red-hot!
Questa pizza è bollente.	This pizza is piping hot.

Expressions

To translate “to be hot” as in “to be attractive”, use the adjective attraente.

Questo attore è molto attraente.

This actor is very hot/attractive.

To translate “to be hot” as in “to be spicy”, use the adjective piccante.

Non mi piace il cibo piccante.

I don’t like hot/spicy food.

Finally, to translate “to be hot” to talk about the weather, use the expression fare caldo.

Oggi fa molto caldo. Non si riesce a stare fuori.

It is very hot today. You can’t stay outside.

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